


goodbyes in the doorway never end

by rocket_rach



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics)
Genre: Dick and Dami Week 2019, Gen, Local Boy Confused By Midwest Culture, Midwestern etiquette lessons, More at 12, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 00:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18457520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocket_rach/pseuds/rocket_rach
Summary: for dick and dami week 2019 - trainingdick gets dami ready for dinner with the kents





	goodbyes in the doorway never end

Damian Wayne was attempting to glare a hole in the back of Dick’s head. He’d already had etiquette lessons in nearly every culture, and he knew which forks to use first, how to place a napkin in his lap, and which wines were dinner wines, and which were desserts. He knew how to eat at the Kent’s. Midwest culture was easy, and almost too simple. 

“Dami, when they say goodbye, they’re gonna stand in the door and keep talking for another 45 minutes, then they’ll say goodbye again and what do we do then?”

“Leave,” Damian rolled his eyes. “We already stated our intent to leave.”

“Nope! They’ll keep talking.”

Damian slumped onto the manor table. “We’re never going to leave the Kent’s, are we?”

His older brother circled around the table, placing his hand on Damian’s narrow back. The longer Damian lived underneath the Manor’s roof, the more Dick learned about his little brother. He was easily frustrated, prone to insulting everyone near him when he felt cornered. Dick had also learned that the boy needed reassuring touches. Bruce and his first attempts were often met with a shuriken at their windpipes, but now he seemed to lean into their touches.

“You know that Clark is one of Bruce’s best, if not his only, friend. The Kent’s are very nice people. Ma especially wants to meet you. They’ve got a whole farm’s worth of animals that I know Pa can’t wait to show you. I know you’re still getting used to your place here. I know it’s still scary—”

“Tt, I’m not scared,” he glowered.

“Well, okay, it’s still new here. But the Kent’s helped me settle in here when I first arrived. They helped Jay and Tim, too. They’re _good_ people, Dami. I want all the good people in my life to get to know each other. Plus, Ma makes a mean cheesy biscuit, and a little birdy told me Pa is gonna grill some veggie burgers for you, too.”

“You think I’m good?” Damian asked in a very small voice, after a very long moment of silence.

“I _know_ you’re good.”

Damian stared down at the single fork, knife, and spoon in front of him. The layout was simple and showed that you used every utensil multiple times. There would be no appetizer. The entrée would come out, hands would grab food off their platters and out of the baskets, paper napkins would sit in the middle of the table to help clean up where cloth ones would fail. His emerald eyes moved to the sweating pitcher of sweet tea, which Damian found horrifying.

“How do they drink that?”

“What? The tea?”

“It doesn’t even – you can’t taste any of the other flavors in the tea. It’s just sugar-heavy black tea.”

“Alfred’s attempt at sweet tea doesn’t hold a candle to Ma’s. I dunno how she does it, I think one time she said she just leaves the jug in the sunlight and lets it steep all day. Other times I’ve heard her say that she buys sugar in bulk. Nothing beats sweet tea in the evening after a hot day in the Midwest. But anyway! Back to our Midwest training,” He released Damian and returned to the other side of the table.

“Ma’s cooking in the kitchen. What do you do?”

“Ask to help her.”

“Good! She said she doesn’t need help. What do you do?”

“Ask again, and if she says no again, then offer to set the table,” Damian said, a bit of warmth returning to his eyes.

“Dinner’s over, now what?”

“Get to the dishes before she has the chance to,” He smiled. “Which shouldn’t be a problem. I doubt that Ma Kent was trained by the league of assassins.”

Dick laughed. “Yeah, she wasn’t. But she did raise Superman. You’d be surprised at how fast she can move.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is the last soft fic im posting for this week


End file.
